LifeBook2017

Wednesday, 26 July 2017

WOYWW #425: Mini chest of drawers and Ikea cart

Hello on this cool and gloomy Wednesday - just the way I like it! I have a weekend feeling as yesterday was my son's last day at school. Possibly his last day forever at that school if we move in August, but it's still not certain. This uncertainty is killing me! He didn't even say goodbye to his friends - having learned from the experience two years ago when we took him out of school - he got the cards and the teary goodbyes - only to be back in September to everyone's surprise, so we're playing it differently this time around.

Now onto WOYWW! My desk shot was taken on Saturday. I altered one of those cheap chipboard mini chest of drawers from the Works. It think it was something like £2.00. Initially, I wanted to cover it with a patterned napkin, not realizing that the colour of the chipboard underneath would show through, so I had to cover it with some book paper afterwards. The napkin also crumpled terribly, so I wouldn't recommend covering large surfaces with it. Lesson learned!

I dry-brushed some teal paint over the book paper and distressed it with some gesso. Then I added some butterfly motifs cut from a napkin and shaded the edges with a permanent ink pad. The drawers were a bit stiff at first, because of the multiple layers of paper, but I managed to break them in - literally as one of the drawers broke (twice!), but I glued it back together. A bit of silicone barrier cream (artguard) helped make the drawers slide easier. I store my metal charms in these drawers now.

On Sunday, we went to Ikea in Bristol on a whim. We wanted to look at furniture for our new house (just in case we end up moving). While we were there, I decided to buy one of those iconic carts that I'd been coveting for ages, but could never buy for lack of space. Now we'll REALLY have to move as I don't have anywhere to put it! It's parked in the dining room for now. They had one last cream coloured unit remaining - they don't sell the teal any more. That's fine, I can live with that! I can always paint it later if I want. I immediately assembled it when we got home. It was very easy - took me less than 20-25 minutes, I reckon. Oreo was not impressed at first, but curiosity got the better of him! And, of course, he got the box too! This cart will be incredibly useful for storing my paints and mediums.